Steve Scalise boasts his bona fides

NEW ORLEANS — They shut down the government and drove the nation to the brink of default. They helped stall immigration reform, stymie highway bills and yank the Republican Party to the right.

But conservatives have been unable to vault one of their own to a top House Republican leadership slot. That is certain to change soon. When it does, lawmakers and top aides across the ideological spectrum think Steve Scalise will be the man.

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As his chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee winds down, the Louisiana Republican is emerging as one of the most powerful conservatives in the House. He’s deftly navigated the stormy currents of conservative politics while keeping his influence in Republican leadership circles, helping sway policy at the top.

Through his RSC post and other internal moves, he’s paved a direct path into his party’s leadership.

When Speaker John Boehner eventually leaves Congress, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are expected to move up, leaving the whip job open. Conservatives will want to elevate one of their own, partially as a price of allowing Cantor and McCarthy to rise without significant angst. It’s an open secret that Scalise is eyeing the whip job — the No. 3 leadership slot in the House.

But leadership races are intensely personal affairs. They are decided by secret ballot, and members of Congress vote based on who they think can advance their agenda — and career — the quickest.

Scalise checks off a lot of boxes for Republicans. Conservatives are hungry for one of their own at the table. Scalise — first elected in 2008 — would be the only Republican from a solidly red state at a leadership table filled with lawmakers from states that President Barack Obama won.

Perhaps most important, he’s an unusually neat foil to Rep. Peter Roskam, his most immediate rival. If Roskam is a folksy Midwestern attorney with close ties to leadership, Scalise is the chest-thumping Southerner who is as comfortable on the House floor as he is rubbing elbows with oil-rig workers deep in the Gulf of Mexico, or yukking it up with businessmen in the southern tip of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.

His outreach efforts were on display here earlier this month when he invited GOP Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Steve Womack of Arkansas, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Susan Brooks of Indiana to an oil rig more than 150 miles from New Orleans. The group, which included a POLITICO reporter, traveled more than an hour by helicopter from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to a massive platform in the blue water of the Gulf of Mexico. He’s done similar trips several times before.

The economy of Scalise’s district is fueled by the oil industry, and he is one of Washington’s staunchest defenders of offshore drilling. During the trip, he poked fun at people who think energy comes from “windmills” and “solar panels.” In previous years, he has taken Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) to offshore facilities.

Senior Republican leadership aides who have worked with Scalise say his ambition is obvious and drives nearly everything he does in Washington.

As his SUV snaked through the streets of New Orleans ahead of the offshore trip, Scalise deflected questions about his leadership ambitions while simultaneously laying out a concise case about why he would be able to unite conservatives and establishment Republicans around his candidacy.

“My theory has always been, if you take care of your business today, take care of the job you have at hand, whatever else comes down the road will be there for you,” Scalise said in an interview, pointedly refusing to address a run for leadership in 2015.

But moments later, he laid out what many see as his strength — working well with party leaders and conservatives.

“When I ran [for RSC chairman], one of the real platforms I ran on was to move our conference further to the right, to pick smart fights so we can actually achieve legislative victories for the conservative movement, and I think that we’ve shown we’ve gotten real legislative victories in a tough environment, and there are more things I want to get done before the end of the year,” he said of his RSC race. “My focus is there.”

To say Scalise isn’t focused on his rise is underestimating his savvy. He’s discussed his future with colleagues and has worked methodically behind the scenes to position himself toward the top of his party’s pecking order.